Lake Ingalls

We drove up to the Esmeralda Trailhead at the end of the North Fork Teanaway Road. Our hike was 9 miles round trip with about 2,700 ft overall gain. We saw only 15 other hikers on this popular trail today, so quiet. View of the Esmeralda Peaks near the beginning of the trail.

I like these small ferns.

Views as we get closer to Ingalls Pass.

We could see Mt Rainier in the far distance to the southwest (also a very hazy Mt Adams).

zoom of Mt Rainier

Mount Stuart from Ingalls Pass

Ingalls Peaks as seen from the upper Ingalls Way Trail

Mount Stuart is almost constantly in view along this route.

Some of the larches were beginning to turn golden.

We saw these two mountain goats near the trail (zoom)

We would hike through several talus fields,

and do some scrambling up to the lake.

Ingalls Peak and Lake Ingalls 

Mount Stuart across from Ingalls Lake

 We had the lake to ourselves for quite a while during our lunch break.

We took the lower Ingalls Way trail back across the basin, Mount Stuart across a meadow.

Another view of Mount Stuart as we neared Ingalls Pass.

some of the wildflowers and berries we saw along the trail today:

 

  

 

  

  

 

  

 

 

Lake Ingalls

We drove out to the Teanaways to hike up to Lake Ingalls. This is a 9 mile round trip hike with an overall gain of about 2,500 ft. The trail enters the Alpine Lake Wildernesss. We were happy to see there were still some wildflowers in bloom and we saw several mountain goats in Headlight Basin on our way to and back from Lake Ingalls.

The trail starts along the North Fork of the Teanaway River for 0.3 mile before heading uphill.

View of some of the Esmeralda Peaks as we hike up to Headlight Basin.

As we got closer to Ingalls Pass, we could see a cloudy Mt Rainier to the southwest behind the Esmeralda Peaks.

Some asters, yarrow and paintbrush along the trail.

View of Ingalls Peaks as we cross Ingalls Pass into Headlight Basin and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness.

Mount Stuart as seen from Ingalls Pass.

We took the Ingalls Way Trail clockwise (the high route through the boulders) on the way to Ingalls Lake and saw 6-8 mountain goats hiking parallel to the trail (zoom photo)

Further down along the trail we saw about a dozen mountain goats resting in an empty campsite.

some zoom photos of these mountain goats

One of my favorite view spots along this trail

There are so many wonderful views of Mount Stuart along this trail.

Looking back across Headlight Basin towards Ingalls Pass before scrambling up the rocks to Lake Ingalls

Lake Ingalls and Mount Stuart, we found a wonderful spot up on the boulders for a long lunch break.

view from the lakeshore

Looking back at Lake Ingalls and Ingalls Peak as we head back out of the lake basin.

We took the alternate Ingalls Way Trail down through Headlight Basin on our way back to Ingalls Pass. There were quite a few wildflowers in bloom along this trail.

Lovely view of Mount Stuart 

Either a young grouse or a ptarmigan

We saw lots of gentian throughout Headlight Basin.

Another view of Ingalls Peaks across Headlight Basin

View of Mount Stuart as we neared Ingalls Pass

We saw some more mountain goats before leaving Headlight Basin and hiking down to the trailhead.

some of the wildflowers we saw along the trail today: